The Islanders hosted fellow Atlantic Divison rivals, the New Jersey Devils, on Saturday night at the Nassau Coliseum. The Isles evened up the season series at two-a-piece in another explosive game by John Tavares and the lethal power play unit.

Tavares led the way through this one, scoring his 4th career hat trick and adding an assist to the 5-1 win over New Jersey. Matt Moulson assisted on all three of Tavares’ goals, in addition to scoring one of his own, giving both of them 4-point games. (Photo Credit: T.J. Weber/The Checking Line)

The 2012-13 NHL season commences today, with 13 games in total taking place. More importantly, the New York Islanders will have their fourth consecutive home-opener against last season's Eastern Conference Champions, the New Jersey Devils.

Unfortunately, the Isles haven't won on opening night since 2007. Last October, they gave the new Winnipeg Jets their first win in 2-0 shutout. (Photo Credit: IslesPunkFan/Flickr)

It’s a Stanley Cup Final no one saw coming—unless of course one watched the last month and a half of playoff hockey unfold. Two teams that admirably underperformed over the course of an eighty-two game regular season have quickly and loudly transformed into two of the most solid Cup contenders of the last few years.

On one side sits the Eastern Conference Champion Devils, fresh off a vanquishing of heated rival New York Rangers. I know I used the word “loudly” in just the previous paragraph, but the Rangers’ eventual undo...

It is still a long shot, but the Islanders have once again pulled themselves into playoff conversation with a 1-0 win over the New Jersey Devils. Kyle Okposo scored the lone goal for the Isles while Anders Nilsson earned his first NHL win with a 24-save shutout performance that earned him first star honors on the night.

"Today I think all the guys out there put up a great job for me," said Nilsson. "The first two periods, I only had 12 shots and they blocked a lot of shots and when they got a shot through it was from the boards. They made it real easy for me to play out there today. They helped me out a lot."

Okposo concurred with Nilsson's belief that the Islanders played one of their best defensive games of the year, rivaling their previous defensive win over the Boston Bruins the night before.